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Lowe and McArthur filled two books for the U.K. market with cynically profane critiques of the ephemera of contemporary culture; this edition features material from those volumes combined with new entries from Hay, a former writer for The Daily Show. Nonetheless, a strong British streak running runs throughout, particularly when it comes to vocabulary such as "posh jackasses" and "cobblers to your iPod playlist." The targets are for the most part predictable-celebrities, rich people, George W. Bush, etc. How much space a topic rates is sometimes mystifying: the entries on Chinese Communist Party and the hidden teachings of Scientology go on for several pages, yet the Blackberry rates only a single line. There's even an entry on people in bear costumes on motorbikes advertising stuff-which, they say, "happens more than you might imagine." It's all amusing enough in small doses, but not quite as clever as, say, the Onion. (Nov.)
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Posted May 6, 2010
After reading reviews for this book I was expecting a witty and funny book about modern things that are overhyped and are annoying. What I read was a book full of political propaganda without being witty or funny. I didn't buy this book so that the authors would push on me their ideas of American politics, I bought it so that I could be entertained and this could not be any further from the truth.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 8, 2008
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Overview
An encyclopedic attack on modern culture so hilariously bitter that it actually becomes uplifting. Based on two runaway UK bestsellers, this new American edition has been ingeniously adapted and features exclusive new material for US audiences by Brendan Hay, a former Daily Show headline producer and contributing writer to America: The Book.If you hate chick lit, Che Guevara merchandise, pop Kabbalah, cosmetic-surgery-gone-wrong-as-tv-programming, DVDs with ads you can't skip, or any of a few hundred other insanely annoying modern things, then this book will finally lend creedence ...